


Blood & Honey

by inquisitor_tohru



Series: Tales of Thedas [9]
Category: Dragon Age (Comics), Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Abominations (Dragon Age), Blood Magic (Dragon Age), Blood and Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Comic: Dragon Age: Magekiller, Drinking & Talking, Gen, Human Sacrifice, Juletide 2020, Male-Female Friendship, Mild Gore, Post-Canon, Referenced Calpernia/Marius, Referenced Charter/Tessa Forsythia, Slice of Life, Venatori
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:54:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25217347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inquisitor_tohru/pseuds/inquisitor_tohru
Summary: "Use yourowndamn blood." Tessa had learned soon enough that blood mages bled just like anyone else. Unfortunately, she still hadn't learned when to shut up, because the exiled Venatori magister took her advice to heart.
Relationships: Tessa Forsythia & Marius
Series: Tales of Thedas [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1733935
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5
Collections: Juletide 2020





	Blood & Honey

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Requiem](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Requiem/gifts).



"Use your _own_ damn blood." Tessa had learned soon enough that blood mages bled just like anyone else. Unfortunately, she still hadn't learned when to shut up, because the exiled Venatori magister took her advice to heart.

The blood coating her daggers hardened and spiralled gracefully. It was almost beautiful, like frosted coral - or it would have been if it wasn't rapidly burning through her new drakeskin gloves. The pain as the crimson tendrils tightened was only secondary to the anger rising from her gut. He ought to have been incapacitated, but mages always _cheated_ and she'd do well to never lose sight of that. Plus, _Charter_ had given her those gloves.

Tessa squeezed her eyes shut, pushing through the pain, and advanced. She caught Marius' eye as he ran through an abomination with his broadsword, spraying bits of flesh and bone - a grim reminder that its body had once been human. Magic cheated mages, too.

The Venatori screamed as she plunged her daggers, tainted by his own blood magic, between his ribs. He bled, just like anyone else, and the intricate blood web encasing her ruined gloves shattered as he drew his last breath.

There were still three targets.

Tessa shook off the last of the sharp blood splinters, and rushed to Marius' side, daggers at the ready. He wasn't a graceful warrior, but the precision with which Marius swung his broadsword never ceased to amaze her. Tessa was far from weak and she could barely lift the thing, which was a shame...because it looked fucking _awesome._

 _He can't do_ this _though,_ she thought with a grin, as she slipped into the shadows and the cultist's fireball lost its way, fizzling out in the mud. She reappeared behind him, deftly tapping his shoulder with the point of her dagger. Before he could turn to face her, her blades were slicing through fat and muscle, blood gushing from his throat.

Killing mages was what they did. It wasn't something Tessa _enjoyed_ doing. Even with assholes like this, it wasn't _fun._ But it was a job well done, considering the number of bodies they'd had to step over to catch up with the Venatori - most of them slaves, some of them children, all left to bleed out for some Maker-forsaken ritual that hadn't had a snowball's chance in hell of working.

They were trying to open up the Breach again.

Rumour had it that the Inquisitor had condemned their _Elder One_ \- Corypheus - to the Black City for all eternity. That was probably an exaggeration, but Tessa had seen and heard some _weird shit_ over the past year or so. It certainly wasn't the craziest notion...and Charter believed it, or something like it, anyway. From the moment they'd met, she'd struck Tessa (almost literally, with her crossbow) as a more practical woman, and not someone given to baseless superstition. She hadn't been wrong about that, though Charter had certainly managed to keep on surprising her in _other_ ways. The sound of crushing bones brought her back to the present, as Marius finished off the last of the cultists and wiped the blood from his sword.

"Drink?" he asked, as eloquent as ever. She grinned.

"Your round." Marius grunted a reply that she didn't quite catch. She had strong suspicions that it was not entirely polite.

* * *

After bathing and nagging Marius about remembering to change the dressing on his thigh, Tessa gladly sampled a pint of honeyed ale, imported straight from the Free Marches. Marius sipped his drink slowly, more concerned with wolfing down his stew and dumplings. She couldn't exactly blame him for working up an appetite and, besides, it was good to see him eat something that might even contain some actual _nutrients._

He still didn't talk much about his life in Tevinter, but from what she'd gathered, slaves didn't exactly eat well. Not even the labourers and fighters. Strangely enough, Calpernia had been the one to tell her that - it seemed everyone was becoming an agent of the Inquisition nowadays.

"Varric gave me a first edition _Swords and Shields_ omnibus." Tessa sighed. They wouldn't be rendezvousing with the Chargers until morning, so she supposed any preparations for their report could wait until then.

"I see where this is going, and yes, I'll read it to you. But I'm _definitely_ going to need another drink." Even _Varric_ knew that series was awful. She'd hoped Marius might have developed an interest in reading _All This Shit is Weird,_ or at least _Tales of the Inquisition's Agents,_ but evidently tepid romance was more to his liking. She wondered, with a smirk, what Calpernia made of his taste in literature.

"Thanks." Even where alcohol was involved, Marius was still a man of few words...though, to be fair, Tessa imagined it would take rather a lot of ale for someone that big to get drunk. But he was slowly ( _very_ slowly) getting better at this whole opening up thing. She'd take that. "Are you going to eat that?" She pushed the leftover Starkhaven fish pie, which was one of very _few_ good things she'd discovered during their time in that city, across the table.

"Knock yourself out." Tessa swayed, then laid her head down in her arms, the post-adrenaline fatigue of battle catching up with her all at once, with the help of the ale. This usually happened, and yet she _always_ seemed to forget until it did. "Sorry. Might have to postpone your bedtime story." Marius chuckled, as he stuffed the last of the pastry in his mouth before rising and offering her a hand.

"Come on. Something tells me you're not going to make it up those stairs on your own." Tessa yawned and laughed with him as he helped her to her feet - over the years they'd worked together, she'd finally realised this was how Marius said how he felt, with actions rather than words.

Yeah, she'd take that.


End file.
